Lighting an open restaurant night scene

[Todd Terry]

You can certainly mix lighting instruments with different color temperatures… they just won’t be the same color.

Sometimes that’s ok… in fact, sometimes we’ll do it on purpose. In fact, if I wanted a sort of moody outdoor stylized restaurant or bar setting, I’d definitely use different colors of light… I might do a back/side splash of light on talent in something like a blue, or maybe even red (depending on the mood). The same thing can be said for instruments with natively different color temps. I use daylight fixtures a lot (HMIs, LEDs, flos), but I’ll often still use tungsten fixtures as backlights, because their warmer look is often desirable.

And of course you can also gel instruments to color correct them to match, although you lose a fair amount of output doing that.

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Ali Quintana]

Great to hear.

So basically I could se the HMI to light the actors and their table in the night rest and use warmer lights to light up the backgrounds and create a warm background ambiance.

In post I will collor correct focussing on the faces.

Would love to get some more feedback on what you think of going about this in this way?

[Erik Anschicks]

Yes, like Todd said you could certainly mix things up color-wise. Often a warmer background is quite a nice and pleasing look, especially in a darker restaurant where the lighting is often warmer to simulate that “candlelit” feel.

First you should determine what color temp the overall restaurant’s natural lighting is around (assuming you can’t turn them off). That will determine how warm to light the backgrounds yourself or simply add to and match what’s there. Be sure to have plenty of CTO and CTB denominations on hand in case the background is too warm for your taste at straight daylight balance. Perhaps try to gel the Jokers lighting the actors with a half CTO then white balance to that while using standard 3200K lighting in the background. I’ve done this with good success as it still keeps the background warmer than the talent but not too much so that it looks extreme or like a mistake. Unless it’s part of the overall style of the production, WILDLY varying color temps can appear low-budget, as in you didn’t have enough light or the proper lights to balance things a bit more. Again though, that’s a stylistic choice!

I’ve also had good success with China balls for lighting talent in this scenario, very soft and flattering light that matches well with practical locations and you can rig them anywhere. Just an option!

[Ali Quintana]

Thaks so much for the great tips.

I am filming with the 2.5 K BlackMagicCinema Camera. It performs best at 800 iso but is not a super low light cam.

The rest appears total dark (black) only the abient candles and lights appear in the background. So basically there is no natural light temp. I guess. See the following BMCC frame. I even cranked up the exposure a bit.

Again, anny additional advice would be highly appreciated…

[Erik Anschicks]

Well, there’s always a light color temperature, you just need to meter it or white balance. If you don’t have a color meter, just put a white card close to the one of the sconces on the pillars and see what color temp your camera tells you. Candlelight and other warm light as you’d find in a place like your picture is generally somewhere in the 2000-2800K of color temp or even lower in some cases (real candlelight can be in the mid to upper 1000’s). It’s similar to dimming a tungsten unit way down and measure the orange glow.

Since it’s outside, I might suggest hanging some practicals in the background as you don’t really have walls to work with. Some bare bulbs that are strung together on cords that you can drape in different places would be good for something like this, and that’s what a lot of places with rooftop bars/dining areas do anyway. Since the bulbs would be bare, you can use quite low-wattage ones and get some nice warm “bokeh” with multiple out of focus spots of light. Maybe also hang a few colored china balls, rope lights, things of that sort. An environment like this lends itself to practical sources quite well, and you can always use your other lights to punch up shadows or background people where needed. Your tighter shots can look really good with the right dose of multiple options like these and for wide/establishing shots you could fill space with foreground details, like candles in the bottom third of the shot. That’s often a good way to not have to take a lot of time to light many elements of a wide shot in darkness.

[Ali Quintana]

As I am getting closer to Sturdays shoot the advice here is really great.

Juat what comes to mind is that eventough I have had good succcess in the past with Chinese balls, in this case I am using Joker HMI lights to light the actors table (foreground) so the Chinese balls yoou are suggesting should be for background right? I mean I should not mix the hmi lights with VChinese ball for the actors table right?

[John Sharaf]

HI Ali,

Jumping in late here, but I’d suggest you use your biggest light, probably the Joker to light the background and the china balls to light the people at the tables.

Night is often portrayed as cool, as if lit by moonlight and people will look best in a warmer glow.

JMHO

JS

[Ali Quintana]

Problem is I hae 4 x 800 watts joker lights and very little other lights, im trying to scrape some together but they will be warm lights…

I have three people sitting at the table… The warm lights I have wont be enough to light them properly I m afraid… It is an open rest in the moonlight though , thats why we thought of the HMI for the people…

[Bob Cole]

The vast empty background is a problem; in order to light something, you need something physical you can light. I’d suggest hanging some billlowy fabric around the back edges of the place, or perhaps placing some lights in the background for some bokeh.

[John Sharaf]

Ali,

I’d suggest using the four 800’s as background and night ambivalence.

China balls with small practicals can be hung both ion the scene and as lighting for the people; that way they’ll be both key, fill and backlights by judicious placement and they are very cheap to buy.

JS